Follow Me! Week 2: Day 2

Passing along the beach of Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew net-fishing. Fishing was their regular work. Jesus said to them, "Come with me. I'll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I'll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass." They didn't ask questions. They dropped their nets and followed. Mark 1:16-18

When Jesus began his public ministry one the first things he did was ask people to join him as disciples. He was not well known, had no educational pedigree, and was offering no compensation or benefits. Instead Jesus offered Simon, Andrew and the others disciples the same thing he offers us: to live life with the Savior and Lord of the world, Jesus Christ.

It never ceases to amaze me how these two brothers (and James and John who follow shortly thereafter) drop everything to follow Jesus, no questions asked. They leave behind their father, their livelihood, all of what they knew. They left not knowing where they would go and what would happen next.

The question for us is: are we willing to follow Jesus? Are we willing to leave our safe, ordinary, and not so risky lives behind to follow? Are we willing? Are we able?

Being a disciple is challenging, difficult, and requires sacrifice. Are we willing to give our whole life to Jesus or only the safe parts?

God wants all of us. God wants us to hold nothing back and put Christ at the center of who we are. Are we ready? Are we willing?

Temptation and Faithfulness Week 2: Day 1

Read Luke 4:1-13

The story of Jesus' temptation is a powerful reminder of the humaness of Jesus, and how easily we can be distracted from God's purpose for our life. Jesus was given a divine mission to share God's Word, bring healing and wholeness to the poor, oppressed, and broken hearted and to give himself on the cross for all of humanity. Jesus understood God's plan for his life and knew the sacrifice, focus, and dedication it would require. The temptation of Jesus was an attempt by Satan to distract, distort, and derail Jesus. Jesus' temptation was real and his success in overcoming temptation is inspiring.

At baptism, Jesus receives the power of the Holy Spirit. This power would enable him to do his earthly ministry and complete his mission on the cross.

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. Luke 4:1-2

Here we have Jesus filled and empowered by the Spirit, but also driven to the desert by the Spirit. It is almost as if the Spirit wants and needs Jesus to endure the temptation by Satan. At the same time, while Jesus is attacked by Satan's temptations, he also filled up with the Spirit. Perhaps Jesus needed to successfully go through temptation in the desert, so that he would be able to overcome the later temptation to abandon God' plan of pain and suffering to be endured on the cross.

The circumstances of Jesus' temptation are important to note. It is only after 40 days of living in the desert without food, that his temptation begins. Jesus was at his absolute weakest when he was tempted. He was physically weak and after so much time in the desert he must have been emotionally fragile as well. For many of us, our temptations come when we are at our weakest; when we are tired, emotionally and physically spent, or when we have lost a sense of who we are.

It is also important to see the kinds of temptations Jesus goes through. He is tempted with food, earthly power, and divinity. Satan tries to get Jesus to use his divine powers to help himself. If Jesus had done so he would have jeopardized God's mission. Jesus resists the temptations of Satan by drawing upon the strength of his faith by quoting the scriptures (Deuteronomy 8:3, 6:13, 6:16 respectively). In our lives, Satan will use whatever means necessary to lead us off track. Some of us are tempted by money and power, others pleasure, food, sex, popularity, affection, or acceptance. Whenever we act out against God and against who God created us to be, we are giving into temptation.

I am more and more convinced that the closer we get to fulfilling God's purpose for our life, the more temptations come our way. Think about it. If we start fulfilling God's purpose for our life and participating in God's mission in the world, Satan will lose! As we start being more and more faithful, temptations increase. The story of Jesus illustrates this increasing level of temptation (Jesus will continually be tempted to use his power and to reveal himself before the time is right, and he was most certainly tempted to avoid the pain and suffering of the cross). As we grow in our faith, deepen our commitment to Christ, and become disciples we too can expect temptation to come our way. But like Jesus, we are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, given the gift of God's Word, and the knowledge that with God on our side we can and will do amazing things.

Dwelling at the Feet of Jesus

As they continued their travel, Jesus entered a village. A woman by the name of Martha welcomed him and made him feel quite at home. She had a sister, Mary, who sat before the Master, hanging on every word he said. But Martha was pulled away by all she had to do in the kitchen. Later, she stepped in, interrupting them. "Master, don't you care that my sister has abandoned the kitchen to me? Tell her to lend me a hand."
The Master said, "Martha, dear Martha, you're fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it—it's the main course, and won't be taken from her." Luke 10:38-42

As we move forward in week 1 of The Discipleship Challenge, we are focusing on making prayer a more integral part of our life. I have had many people tell me, after I explained the purpose of the challenge and the time investment needed to be successful, have told me how they are too busy to take the challenge. People are busy no doubt, but the challenge is exatcly what people who are too busy need in their life!

Our culture defines for us success in many ways, not the least of which is the busier you are the more important and successful you must be. We cram our schedules (and our children's schedules) with activity after activity, we run around like chickens with our heads cut off. We are stressed, anxious, and busy and as long as we buy into the myth that busyness equals success we will continue to be stressed, anxious, and have no time for anything.

Let me say it clearly: God is not impressed with you! God is not keeping track of all you do and judging you based on your efforts--God has already made up his mind about you! God offers unconditional love and grace that is completely separate from our efforts, our successes, and our many failures. God does not want you to run around like a crazy person and have no peace, joy, or happiness in your life. God wants a relationship of love, God wants your time, your energy, your focus.

I suspect many of us are like Martha. We run around trying to do everything for everyone and exhaust ourselves in the process. We have no time or energy left for ourselves or God. Mary, however dwells at the feet of Jesus, taking time to hear from God and find joy and peace in Jesus' presence. In many ways, taking intetional time to pray for 10, 20, or 30 minutes is a Mary way of life. Yes there are things to do, but there always will be. You will never be done with your to-do list, but if you take daily time with our Lord you may just find the "main course" rather than being stuck with the dishes.

The Discipleship Challenge

Welcome to all who are taking the Discipleship Challenge this year. Last we started with 130 people from King of kings taking the challenge and it was a tremendous experience. This I have shared the book with neighboring churches and we have a total of 8 churches and over 400 people participating in the challenge! I pray that God will do great things in these 40 days!

I will be using this blog to offer some personal reflections as I journey with you in this time of challenge. Week 1 is prayer and I have been praying by name for our folks at KOK and for the other churches as well. Prayer is the foundation of the Christian walk (which is why it is week 1!) and connects us to God and one another in deeply meaningful ways. While I am already less than perfect in my Discipleship Challenge 2, I have already been tremendously blessed in my prayers this week.

May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus be with you all!

Forgiveness Article

Follow the link below for a great article on a scientific investigation on the power of forgiveness.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/roy-lloyd/the-science-of-forgivenes_b_613138.html

The Conseqeunces of Sin

The story of sin is the all too common story of human life. We continually sin and fall short of God's commands and expectations for our lives. The consequences of sin can be seen all around us: violence, oppression, greed, jealousy, addiction, brokenness, shattered relationships to name a few. We know that the world is not how God intended it to be and that our choices, both individually and corporately, have lead us to where we are. In the face of sin and brokenness we are called to turn to the Lord, seeking forgiveness and trying to follow the example of Jesus Christ.

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” Mark 1:14-15

The kingdom of God comes into our lives when we move away from our selfish desires and choices, when we move away from a life of sin, and with the power of spirit begin living for the Lord. Jesus' message was clear: the way of sin is death and the way of God is life.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23

While Jesus' message is clear it is often difficult if not impossible to achieve. The question becomes: must we wait until heaven to live a life without sin? Or even a life with less sin? Can we live more holy and righteous lives here and now?

The stories in Genesis tell us a great deal about the power of sin in our lives. In particular, the story of Cain and Abel is quite illustrative. As Cain and Abel come to worship the Lord, each brings an offering for God. Cain works in the field and brings an offering of "the fruit of the ground" while Abel, a shepherd, brought the "firstlings of his flock." Each gave to the Lord as an act of worship, but God only received the offering of Abel. There is no explanation of why God did not receive Cain's offering in the text. what followed as an interesting exchange between Cain and God.

The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Genesis 4:6-7

God is telling Cain that it is possible to live a righteous life; it is possible to "do well." God also warns Cain that the power of sin is lurking at the door and has a desire for you. It is possible to do well (at least in theory) but most strikingly, sin has a desire for Cain. This is a profoundly powerful statement. Sin desires Cain. He can do well, but sin is preying upon him, nudging, pleading, instigating, and tempting him.

The story of what Cain does next is more well known. In anger and jealousy he takes his brother Abel to the field and murders him. While this story is often pointed to as the archetype for sibling rivalry, it is less a story of conflict between Cain and Abel, and much more about the conflict between Cain and God. Further, it is the conflict within Cain over how to handle his sinful desires that leads him astray.

The question for us is: if sin is knocking on our door, desiring to lead us astray, do we have any hope of living life for God? Are we inevitably caught in a life full of sin?

Sin has real power in our lives as it not only leads us away from God spiritually, but has real effects for others and the world. The consequences of sin have lead to violence, oppression, war, greed and so much more. Sin is not just an individual problem it is a world problem.

-Is it possible, through the faith of a few, to make the world more peace and loving?
-Can we through Christ, live lives that are better and make a positive difference?
-Or is our world hopelessly lost and beyond redemption until the Lord returns?

My prayer is that through the grace of God, and the empowering of the Holy Spirit, we might live lives worthy of the gospel. That because of Jesus' love for me, I might be more loving. Because of the amazing gift of grace, I might be more gracious. Because God includes me as a child of God, I might includes others in the same way. If we can love like God loves us, I truly believe our world's problems would improve. Perfect and sinless?doubtful. Better and worth working for? absolutely! As the vision for life with Christ found in Ephesians reminds us:

You are living a brand new kind of life that is continually learning more and more of what is right, and trying constantly to be more and more like Christ. Ephesians 4:13